Accounting and advisory firm Marcum LLP has introduced the Marcum Commercial Construction Index, a quarterly index that will track the performance of the U.S. commercial construction industry.

Marcum LLP, a top national accounting and advisory firm, today unveiled a new quarterly index tracking the performance of the U.S. commercial construction industry. The debut Marcum Commercial Construction Index finds that total nonresidential structures investment in the third quarter of 2012 declined 4.4%, despite 2% annualized growth in the national economy during the period. Year-over-year nonresidential construction spending in the third quarter rose a modest 2.6%, well below the more than 19% growth in residential construction. The index can be viewed in its entirety at www.marcumllp.com/constructionindex.

"Despite 13 consecutive quarters of economic growth, nonresidential construction has not been among the sectors experiencing meaningful recovery. The agonizingly slow recovery in nonresidential construction spending is attributable to many factors, including fiscal cliff fears, tight credit, cautious developers and stubbornly high vacancy rates in many market segments," said Marcum Chief Construction Economist Anirban Basu, who is also Chief Economist for the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) organization. "On the brighter side, the latter half of 2013 could be surprisingly good if Washington is able to successfully navigate the nation past the fiscal cliff, given the large volume of construction projects that were put on hold over the course of 2012."

Marcum LLP's experience within the Healthcare industry covers the full continuum of care with a special focus within the post-acute care geriatric segments of the industry, hospitals and physician practices.

Marcum LLP is one of the largest independent public accounting and advisory services firms in the nation, with offices in major
business markets throughout the U.S., as well as Grand Cayman, China and Ireland.